Message in a Bottle
by Rapis-Razuri
Summary: Hey Seraph, if you're reading this, then it means that we have succeeded...and that I am no longer in existence.


**Title**: Message in a Bottle  
**Author**: Rapis-Razuri  
**Word Count**: 1,068  
**Game**: Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky  
**Characters**: Player (Eevee), Partner (Vulpix)  
**Warnings**: Rated for talk about death/dying

_This is my stab at a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon story...well, not really a story. More of a letter written by the player character (a female eevee in this case) after Grovyle went back to the future with Dusknoir but before battling Primal Dialga for the partner (a female vulpix) to find after she disappears. Sorry if there's already a story like this. I don't read __Pokémon stories all that often._

* * *

Hey Seraph, if you're reading this, then it means that we have succeeded...and that I am no longer in existence. As I am writing this letter, we're resting next to the Kangaskhan Rock just outside of Temporal Tower. You're asleep right now, but your sleep is restless. We just lost Grovyle and surely the anticipation of what we must do is weighing heavily on your mind because it is in mine. It's all uphill from here. I know I should be trying to get as much rest as I can, but I can't sleep. Not now.

It was a huge shock for me too when Dusknoir told me. Grovyle said that I made this decision as a human because I had nothing to lose back then.

Not anymore though, because I met you that day I somehow turned into a pokemon. Remember, on the beach? You thought I was crazy back then, claiming to be a human, but I don't blame you. I would think I was crazy as well. I'm so used to being an eevee now that the thought that I was once a human now sounds strange to me as well. Do you think that if I suddenly turned back into a human now I would feel just as strange as I did when I first realized that I became a pokemon?

...wait, what am I saying? That was a really dumb question.

Anyway, I helped you get your Relic Fragment back (who would've thought that it would be the key to Hidden Land back then?) from Zubat and Koffing (I wonder what happened to them and Skuntank. They were really hurt in Brine Cave, weren't they?) and you asked if I wanted to form an exploration team with you. There really wasn't many choices available for me. I didn't know anyone and nobody knew me. I turned into a pokemon and lost my memory, so there was no way Grovyle could have found me. Even if we did run into each other by chance, there was no way he would've known it was me and no way for me to know that I know him.

But...you said you trusted me and I trusted you despite the fact that I just met, so I agreed.

I still don't remember anything from my time as a human so my time with you were the only memories I had. Remember how disappointed we were when Chatot took most of the reward money that we earned from retrieving Spoink's pearl? 2,000 poke...that was a lot of money! But it felt good knowing that we helped somebody out right? Spoink was so happy that he got his pearl back. I think that was the real reward of the mission. And then we saved little Azurill and arrested our first criminal. True, I agreed with you when you said that what the Scream showed me was really the result of me dozing off accidentally, but when we saw Drowzee's wanted poster, I knew what I saw really happened. Or was going to happen this case. We were so worried about Azurill that we just ran off without telling anybody.

Finally, there's our exploration to Fogbound Lake. We saw our first Time Gear. I think everything started for us there, although it was more like everything started again for me. My heart was beating so quickly when I saw it. I didn't know why seeing a Time Gear would make me so excited, but I know why that was now. I must've known that there would be a Time Gear here before I lost my memory. Guildmaster Wigglytuff was so angry that Uxie got hurt that he got us involved with protecting the Time Gears and catching Grovyle. Catching Grovyle...it sounds so strange now that I know he was once my partner. Maybe I still felt some familiarity with him, so that's why I was so ready to trust him when we were in the future.

I know. I should have told you. We're partners and we can tell each other anything, but this...this is...was something different. I couldn't tell you because I didn't trust you, Seraph, I didn't want you to know. I'm not scared of dying...or disappearing, rather. I was scared of leaving you. I wanted to stay and become a fully fledged explorer with you, but I knew that I couldn't do it. I had so much to lose now, but at the same time there was so much to protect. Not just you, but everyone else in Treasure Town and Wigglytuff's Guild. (I hope Chatot will be okay. The wounds he received from the kabutops and omastar were really severe. He was such a prick during the Perfect Apple Incident, but I know now that he has a good heart.) You understand why I accepted what's going to happen to me, right? I can't let the future I came from happen.

There's so much more I want to say, Seraph, but I'm running out of time. You'll wake up any moment now and we will keep going. We have to get to the top of Temporal Tower and place the Time Gears there no matter what. I know Grovyle will try to buy us as much time as possible from the future. If I know anything about him, it's that he'll be fighting until the bitter end. He and Celebi – and I guess you can say that I did too – dedicated their whole lives to make this happen. Twice, I have set my mind on this mission: to stop the planet's paralysis, even though it means that I will have to sacrifice myself.

I'm so happy that I was able to meet you. You'll be the only one of us left. Grovyle and Celebi will share my fate, but you won't. I know you will grieve for the three of us, but you will continue to live. So keep living and exploring and having adventures for all four of us, okay? You've grown stronger, you know. You are no longer the same cowardly vulpix that offered to form an exploration team with me because you were too scared to go to the guild by yourself that day on the beach. I know you can do it.

-Eir

PS. Say goodbye to everyone for me and tell them I'm sorry I couldn't do it in person.

* * *

_Seraphs, also known as the "burning ones", are six-winged angels that are the highest order of angels in the Christian angelic hierarchy. I named the vulpix so as a reference to her six tails/fire typing._

_Eir is the name of a valkyrie associated with healing. A vague-ish reference to her role in "healing" the planet's paralysis._


End file.
